Sto Case Study

On picturesque Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, California, stands a super-sized CVS pharmacy anchoring a small strip center. Redondo Beach enforces a strict architectural uniformity for commercial structures and virtually all construction in the area is an adobe/stucco look. Yet, the entire complex, with its contemporary Southwestern feel and unique architectural accents – columns, ribbed roof and custom colors – fits nicely into the landscape.

Yet, while this “drug store on steroids” blends in with the prevailing stucco vibe of the area, it features a construction system rarely seen in southern California: a StoTherm NExT EIF system. And that stucco look? It’s actually a StoTique finish to match the area, instead of the standard textured finish.

This architectural anomaly doesn’t believe in making an understated entrance: while the average CVS store (typically, standalone box stores, making this site a departure even for CVS) sports 12,000 square feet of EIFS cladding, the entire retail center – developed completely by CVS – is approximately three times larger. And it likely won’t be an anomaly for long…

After all, EIFS is hot: it was named the best cladding in a recent 30-month Department of Energy (DOE) study, which concluded that EIFS’ unique features provide superior energy efficiency – moisture control and insulating value – more than brick, stucco, concrete block and fiber cement siding.

The study read: “The best performing wall system was the EIFS wall consisting of 4 inches of expanded polystyrene insulation board without any interior stud insulation (no fiberglass)” – essentially, a StoTherm NExT system. With EIFS, the insulation is outside the framing and on top of a spray-on waterproof air/moisture barrier (StoGuard, in Sto’s case) that replaces building wraps and is applied directly to sheathing, joints and rough openings.

Locking Up CVS
But what’s EIFS doing in the heart of Stucco Central? Well, Sto is the world's leading manufacturer of EIFS, and now, whenever and wherever a new CVS store goes up, it’s Sto and only Sto products being specified. How did that come about? By devising an innovative way to build, retain and reinforce customer loyalty – in essence, by out-thinking the competition.

How Sto’s Strategic Accounts Group earned the loyalty of CVS, and virtually all its business is a story that’s compelling both for its ingenuity and its simplicity.

Sto’s Strategic Accounts program (SA) came to be in 1999. At the time, Sto simply had a National Accounts program (NA), whose job it was to get established, along with three or four other bidding vendors, on national account projects.

Changing the Rules
The SA group – a five-person team – pursues opportunities with national chains in retail, hospitality, healthcare, and high-rise condos, and is dedicated both to new construction and restoration of existing facilities. But as Chris Lazowski, Manager, Sto Strategic/National Accounts (and the creator of SA) explains, “SA came about from a desire to sidestep our competition completely by significantly raising the value-add bar for the customer. Having a dedicated team of five underscores our commitment to this aspect of our business.”

Lazowski recalls, “I took a look at our company and all the services we offered our customers that our competitors didn’t.” Sto had provided these extras, piecemeal, for years, but now made the decision to turn them into a bargaining chip. Lazowski continues, “A ‘what-if’ came out of that: ‘What if I bundled some of these services together in such a way as to be exceptionally valuable to national chain accounts, and was bold enough to say, ‘Buy my products exclusively – at normal prices – and we’ll provide all these services free of charge.’”

Sto made exactly such an offer to CVS, with a goal of having the company’s decision-makers in architecture and construction mandate Sto products be used no matter where they built. But, as it was, this wasn’t just a clever marketing strategy; it was precisely what it would take to get in the door of CVS.

Fact was, CVS had used EIFS in the past, but had lots of problems. “Callbacks” – necessary repairs due to installation problems – were common. When Sto came in the door, CVS – who builds 300 new stores annually – saw them as simply another EIFS manufacturer. They’d been there, done that, and had no interest in revisiting it.

Making It Easy to Buy
Sto’s response? Lazowski recalls, “By offering a no-charge, value-added service package that would ensure proper installation of our systems, we addressed their main issue. Plus, with four times as many people in the field as our next closest competitor, we could deliver a level of on-site service and responsiveness our rivals couldn’t touch.”

In the past, CVS would say to their general contractors: “This is how we want our building to look. As long as it looks like this, it doesn’t really matter what products you use.” Now, it mattered. From that point forward, CVS knew that as long as they used Sto products, they’d get a whole host of services that would effectively meet their two primary demands: eliminate callbacks during the construction process and give them a 10-year service life on their buildings.